9 Recipes Full Of Beer, Glorious Beer

There is one universal rule to cooking with beer: Use any brew that's brown or amber in color, not too hoppy, and tasty enough to drink on its own. Beyond that, the world is your pint glass. And there are many recipes to upend its contents into.

The following recipes call for beer to work its magic in a range of ways. It lends decadence to morning muffins, tempers the sweetness of a caramel dessert, and makes corn dogs even more Midwestlicious, just to name a few. It's enough to make us wonder if there is anything that beer can't do—if there is, we probably don't want to find out. Here are nine dishes that call for a few good glugs of beer.

Runzas are stuffed yeast rolls by way of Nebraska, where they were popularized by German immigrants. While they're typically filled with ground beef, onions, and either cabbage or sauerkraut, our version of runzas swaps the beef for mushrooms and add beer to both the filling and the dough for maximum flavor. Get the recipe for Mushroom Runzas here.

You can call this recipe beer bread for short, but it's actually Dark Beer, Onion & Mustard Bread, and it's a difference you can taste. Cooking thinly sliced onions with butter and salt and layering them on top of the dough before baking ensures that this is the best loaf you'll ever eat. Get the recipe here.

This easy Double Cheddar Beer Cheese Dip is an ode to the Green Bay Packers, so you know it's packed full of Midwest flavor—and Midwest booze. After you've combined the cream cheese and cold pack cheddar, it seems only right to stream in half a can of Pabst Blue Ribbon, Wisconsin's pride and joy. Soon you'll have the perfect party dip to serve alongside pretzel chips and, of course, more beer. Get the recipe here.

Though they might look like dessert, these Breakfast Stout Muffins have a subtle sweetness that doesn't hit you over the head—and that balance is achieved by the key ingredient, beer. The cocoa and coffee notes in breakfast stout are given space to shine here, making these muffins a fitting showcase for a worthy brew. Get the recipe here.

This Midwestern spin on a traditional risotto makes every conceivable swap to evoke the flavors of Wisconsin, most notably beer subbed in for the white wine that usually deglazes the pan. The beer is used slightly differently here, however: to bring out a genuine beer flavor that can cut through the richness of the smoked cheddar in the final dish, an additional measure of beer is poured in right at the end. How's that for comfort food? Get the recipe here.

It's best to think of these Beer & Pretzel Caramel Bars like one gigantic candy bar, to accurately prepare you for their richness. The beer in this recipe doesn't have to be anything specific, but sour beers like lambics or citrus brews work well to temper the caramel's more cloying attributes. Whatever you go with, you'll need four cups. Get the recipe here.

This Wisconsin Corn Dog is not for the faint of heart, and that goes for whoever is making and eating it. This dish is the result of an effort to squish as much Wisconsin as possible into a natural casing and corn batter. In short, it's a pork/beer/cheese-curd-stuffed corn dog slathered with beer mustard, Secret Stadium sauce, and Supper Club glaze. Actually, that's not a short description at all, is it? Just taste it for yourself. Get the recipe here.

Shepherd's pie is a perennial comfort in the colder months, but its cooking time is anything but convenient—usually it takes at least an hour to achieve a bubbling center. These Personal Shepherd's Pies, meanwhile, get the cooking time down to 30 minutes by portioning the ingredients into ramekins for tidy one-person portions. Incorporating a strong dark beer like oatmeal stout only kicks up the wintry vibes, and you can pair whatever's left in the can with your finished meal. Get the recipe here.

Nothing hits the spot in the summer like a michelada, the classic Mexican beer cocktail supplemented with lime juice, hot sauce, chile powder, various seasonings, and sometimes tomato juice. And when the craving hits, you shouldn't have to whip out tons of bottles and shakers just to assemble one. Enter Michelada Ice Cubes, the secret to an instant cocktail. Prep and freeze these now so that when warm weather arrives, you can drop a few of them into a glass, top off with a crisp, cold beer, and that's it—time to relax. Get the recipe here.